Mark Cavendish takes Giro stage amid protest controversy

Britain's Mark Cavendish reacts as he crosses the finish line to win the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia. Photograph: Marco Trovati/AP

Mark Cavendish won the ninth stage of the Giro d'Italia here after a riders' protest prompted by fears that the circuit was too dangerous. In the end they raced and Cavendish won a spectacular bunch sprint from Australia's Allan Davis to make it three stage victories in a row for his Columbia team. However, because of the protest the stage will not count towards the general race classification.

The riders stopped after four of 10 16.5km laps of the Milan circuit and the man in the pink jersey of race leader, Danilo Di Luca, acted as their spokesman. Addressing supporters , Di Luca said: "We are continuing [to ride and] we wanted to stop and say thanks for your presence, but we don't feel the need to risk [racing] any more. The circuit is not safe."

Besides the presence of narrow roads and tight corners, the riders were said to be unhappy that there were parked cars on the circuit. An equally likely cause was the horrific crash suffered by Spain's Pedro Horrillo during Saturday's racing. Horrillo plunged 60 metres down a ravine, suffering fractures to his thigh, knee, vertebrae and ribs, as well as a punctured lung. The 34-year old was put in an induced coma on Saturday night. He regained consciousness yesterday and was said last night to be in a "serious but stable" condition.

Astana's Lance Armstrong had earlier complained, on his Twitter site, that the ­finish to Friday's stage – which was made even more treacherous by rain – "made no sense". He claimed that "the boys in the bunch are livid". Yesterday, as threatened rain promised to make conditions even more difficult, the riders appeared to snap, first stopping, then riding at snail's pace until the final lap.

The Giro's organiser, Angelo ­Zomegnan, responded angrily, saying the riders had "betrayed the public". He also suggested that there would be repercussions. "If they don't want to race we'll take some decisions this evening."

When they did begin racing flat out British riders were to the fore, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar, both of Garmin-Slipstream, driving the peloton along in a bid to lead out their team sprinter, the American Tyler Farrar.

But they met their match in the ­yellow-and-white-clad Columbia squad, with Thomas Lovkvist – who is in second place overall – third-placed Michael Rogers and the winner of Friday's stage, Edvald Boasson Hagen, massed at the front to set up Cavendish. There were no mistakes this time from the 23-year-old from the Isle of Man, who lost last Sunday's stage after a similarly perfect lead-out, when he allowed Alessandro Petacchi to slip away within sight of the line.

This time the quality of ­Cavendish's sprint matched his lead-out and he won ­convincingly, while Petacchi could ­manage only fifth.

For Cavendish, who was denied the opportunity to contest Monday's bunch sprint after being held up by a crash in the final 10km, it was his first individual stage win of this year's Giro, following his two last year and his part in Columbia's victory in this year's opening team time trial, following which he held the pink jersey for two days. Another British rider, 21-year old Ben Swift, was well placed again yesterday, finishing 12th.